Property of Tony Stark
by mrs.thedoctor10
Summary: The Artist is a timelord hiding in New York- and that might be the death of her. When a bus explodes during the Battle of New York and severely cripples her, she finally meets Tony Stark. But she's forced to regenerate in the Stark Tower, and he discovers her secret. Is the fact she's an alien going to be too much for a scientist like him to ignore?


"GO!" I push the little boy towards the waiting people, and he runs, hurrying away. Something explodes overhead, and I duck, but the debris falls far away. The crashed, burning bus is almost empty now. One little boy reaches for me, and they'll all have been rescued.

I reach inside and grab him. His eyes are as big as saucers, staring at me. The hero with the bow helped me earlier, but now he's disappeared into the chaos that's taken over New York. From behind me, I hear the high pitched whistle of pressure built too high and shove the little boy forward. "Run!" He does, hardly paying me a backward glance as he dashes for his mom.

I watch him go, suddenly unaware of the ticking time bomb behind me. The squeal is higher now- and then the world goes silent. I'm knocked to the ground, something heavy and burning landing on my hips and legs- and then- darkness.

I come to almost as soon as I pass out, my timelord survival instincts making sure I stay awake and aware of my surroundings. I moan, the pain making me wish I was still out. A huge part of the bus has fallen on my hips and legs, burning hot and impossibly heavy. I try to pull myself out and immediately stop, moaning. The pain is awful.

I lay back, assessing the damage. My right leg is broken in at least three spots. I can't feel my left leg at all. My pelvis feels fractured at least, maybe broken in half. I wonder if I'm bleeding out, but it's doubtful; the hot metal cauterized my wounds at the same time it created them. I need to get this bus off me. I can't regenerate with it here. I try to move again and scream. The pain is awful.

I hear a footstep to my left and a puff of dust blows across my face. I shut my eyes, praying it isn't the Chitauri, and if it is, that they think I'm dead. Another footstep. "Hey." The bus lifts off me, and I open my eyes, seeing Iron Man standing over me. "Sweetheart, I'm gonna help you, okay?"

I look around nervously, trying to push myself up into a sitting position. I try to say something but it turns into a moan.

"It's okay." He takes off his mask and I find myself looking into the face of Tony Stark. He's even more beautiful in person.

Iron Man- Tony Stark- I guess he's both gently lifts me, taking off and flying as gently as he can. I moan, and he winces. "I'm sorry." I shake my head, looking down at the ground. I suddenly see why I can't feel my left leg. It lies severed on the ground behind us. I feel nauseous.

Stark lands in front of Stark Tower and walks me inside, setting me on a couch. "You'll be safe here until I get back. I'm sorry, but I have to go help fight." I moan, my entire body tingling from putting off my regeneration so long.

He sighs. "Here." He holds out a hand and a long needle emerges from his finger. "This is a painkiller. It'll help until I get back and take care of those broken bones, okay?" As he speaks he injects me. I hardly notice, reaching for his hand.

He sighs again. "I'm sorry I can't do more, sweetheart. The boys need me."

The pain starts to fade, and I smile up at him, grateful. Maybe I won't regenerate at all. "I... Need you."

He laughs gently. "I'll be back." He gets up and walks out, putting the helmet back on and flying away. I smile, loopy from the painkillers.

Forty minutes later, my leg and hips are burning in pain again. It takes a very strong painkiller to even knock me out for short periods of time, and the one he just dosed me with was clearly strong. He probably set it to match the extent of my injuries. I've started to bleed again, all over his couch, and I know what I need to do. I have to regenerate and get out of here. He won't worry about me when he gets back anyway.

I shut my eyes, preparing myself. Then, the glow and the heat starts, coating my body in healing power. I grin despite myself. I'm going to look completely different in a second or two. I can physically feel my bones knit themselves back together, and then the glow's gone.

I sit up, staring happily at my new leg. I bend it, flex my toes. Works like a charm. I stand, wobbly but definitely glad to be standing at all. I need a mirror. I run my hands through my hair, feeling how fine and long it is. I quickly pull a strand in front of my face. Ginger? I'm ginger! "I've never been ginger before!" I clamp my mouth shut. New voice. That's different. It's deeper, slightly husky. I like it.

I grin and look around the room, hoping for a bathroom. There's one on the other side of the lobby and I hurry towards it. I go inside, knocking my shoulder on the door frame. I have wider shoulders. Okay... A thought suddenly hits me. Am I a man?

The mirror solves that problem. I'm definitely a woman, with curves that models might envy. I stare at my reflection. I've never regenerated into someone this gorgeous before. Wow. Maybe I should get stuck under a bus more often. I laugh out loud at that and spin, looking at myself from every angle I can. "Wow. Look at you. You fit here now."

Here. In the Stark Tower with Tony Stark. If he ever returns. But he won't know me. He'll be looking for the young, innocent, grimy victim who's missing a leg and will never walk again. He won't expect this. I grin. I like surprises.

I walk out of the bathroom to come face-to-face with the heroes who have saved New York. All of them. I stare, not having expected that.

"Who are you?" Iron Man is staring at me. I stare right back.

"I'm the girl from earlier. The girl under the bus."

He continues staring, a puzzled, suspicious expression on his beautiful face. The mask of the suit has been torn off. "No you're not. She had brown hair. And only one leg."

How much about myself should I reveal? "I healed myself."

The other heroes have stopped now, and I can see one man in chains and a muzzle. He stares at me angrily, and I quickly look back to Stark. He's talking under his breath to the other heroes. "Go on ahead... I'll see about..."

He turns back to me, coming closer. I back away, the intention in his eyes scaring me. "I'm the girl from the bus! I swear!"

He smirks. "Yeah, sweetheart. We'll see." He suddenly reaches out and grabs the side of my neck. I feel a sharp prick, and my world goes blurry, fading fast. I struggle. "What are you-"

Just before I pass out, I see him turn to the others. "Elephant tranq. Works every time."

Darkness.

I come to slowly, first aware of the bright light overhead, and the hard, cold metal beneath me. Then I feel a dull pain in the crook of my elbow. I can hear a machine whirring and water running. I'm strapped to a metal table. I shiver, looking around. I'm in a laboratory of some sort.

An unfeeling, metallic voice comes from nowhere. "SIR. THE SUBJECT IS AWAKE."

I hear Tony Stark to my left. "Thanks, JARVIS." There's a clunk, and he comes over, his face appearing in my range of vision. He's taken off the suit and is wearing a t-shirt and jeans. "Who are you?"

"I already told you!"

"I know you're the girl from the bus. JARVIS did a DNA test on the blood you left on my couch. I'm asking WHO are you?"

I frown. If he knows who I am, why does it matter? "My name is Ember."

"Well, Ember," he says my name sarcastically. "Mind telling me how you went from crippled to drop dead model in an hour?"

How much should I tell? "I healed myself."

"How?"

"I just did!" I don't want him to know. I can't let him know.

He sighs. "JARVIS, increase the drip." I feel something cold enter my bloodstream and look down, seeing an IV needle stuck in the crook of my arm. No wonder it hurts. "Now. How did you heal yourself?"

I suddenly have a burning need to tell him everything. I can't. But I want to. I look at him. "What kind of drugs are you pumping into me?"

He looks surprised at my answer. "A bunch of things. Things you wouldn't understand. Mostly painkillers."

"Why?"

He smirks. "In case. Are you human?"

"Yes," I lie.

He grabs a screen and pulls it into my line of sight, tilting the screen so I can see. On the screen is a diagram of a body with two hearts. I do my best not to recognize it. "Then what's this?" He asks.

"A mutant? I don't know. Where'd you get that?"

"JARVIS took a scan of your body. You have two hearts. Are you human?"

"N- yes!"

He obviously doesn't believe me. "Then how do you have two hearts? And don't tell me you're a mutant. We already scanned for the X gene."

I shake my head. "I- I don't."

He raises his brow. "You don't?"

"No." He looks at the ceiling again. "Increase the drip to three hundred milligrams."

He moves out of my line of vision, and I try to follow him with my eyes. He's messing with something at a counter. "What are you doing?"

"JARVIS says you have two hearts. You say you don't. I guess I better see for myself."

I blink, not understanding. "What?"

He comes back over, holding a scalpel. "Don't worry. This shouldn't hurt."

I suddenly realize what he's doing and shut my eyes, chest heaving. "You can't!"

"I can. I have permission to figure out who you are and what you want with earth."

"I'm not an alien!" Another lie. My voice sounds weak and guilty.

He smiles and starts working on my torso. I don't feel anything. It's worse than feeling the pain. I can see Stark operating on my chest. I can hear the noise of the scalpel cutting through my flesh, but I don't feel a thing. I keep expecting a rush of adrenaline through my veins, but it never comes. It's as if my body isn't even aware of the danger I'm in. And to make things worse, Tony Stark starts talking.

"Your anatomy is amazing! You look human from the outside but once I get in here..." He holds up a bloody hand for me to see. I wince. "So. What kind of alien are you?"

I sigh, unable to resist the desire to tell him any longer. "I'm a timelord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey. It was destroyed in a war. I don't mean any harm to Earth. I'm stuck here."

He nods slowly. "Interesting. That's very interesting," he's intensely focused on something inside my chest, craning for different views of it. "And how'd you change?"

"I regenerated."

"What's that?"

"When I'm dying, my body heals itself. But I change. My height, hair colour, eye colour, everything."

He's still focused on whatever is so interesting. "And this is a timelord trait?"

"Yes." The room is silent for a moment, except for the squelching and sawing of the scalpel. Suddenly, Stark looks up at me again.

"This is incredible! You should be in a museum!"

"Yeah, in a museum with all my insides splayed out." I roll my eyes.

"Exactly! And alive too, so people get to sample timelord sarcasm!"

"No thank you. Just sew me back up, please."

"I'm not quite finished." He grins and goes back to the hole he's made in my chest. I feel something strange- pain? No. It's more like a tug... A little pull on my lungs. It comes again, like someone yanking on my lungs.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm seeing how your blood gets oxygenated." The tug comes again, harder, and I want to cough.

"Stop it!"

He finally looks up at me. "Why? Does it hurt? I can get JARVIS to increase the drip."

I shake my head. "It doesn't hurt-"

"Then shut up, freak." He goes back to tugging on my lungs. I groan. Great. He's cutting me open AND calling me names. He gives my lungs one last hard tug, probably just to be cruel, and pulls his hands out of my chest. "Anything else I should see?"

I glare. "Um, no. Sew me back up."

He grins, leaning closer with his hands on either side of my torso. "What about your brain? I'm sure that's pretty complex, timelord."

"No. Absolutely not."

"Why?" He sounds like a whiny three-year old.

"Because I'd rather not die today!"

He sighs, turning away. "Fine." He sounds disappointed. He goes over to the counter, washing his hands again, scrubbing my blood out of his nails. A dull ache starts in my chest.

"Hey, science boy! It's starting to hurt."

He turns and looks at me, laughing. "Science boy? That's the best you could come up with?"

"No but I'm not operating well with a giant hole in my chest!"

He rolls his eyes. "JARVIS, increase her drip." The cold painkiller floods my veins and immediately numbs the pain. I sigh. "Better?"

I nod. "Yes. Thank you."

He rolls his eyes, coming back over with a needle and thread. "I'm going to sew you back up now, freak."

I sigh. "I'm not a freak." "Yes you are. Now shut up so I can focus."

He begins to stitch up his incisions. I can feel a tug at my skin and know he's not being gentle. I struggle slightly, and his bloody hand slaps me, hard. I hardly feel it for all the painkillers he's pumped into me, but I stop moving. "Hold still!" He's furious and I do my best to hold still for him.

Finally he finishes and goes away to wash his hands again. I groan in relief, at the same time hoping the painkillers don't wear off anytime soon. "You gonna let me go now?"

"No."

"What?" I frown at him. "Why?"

"Because you shouldn't even be on this planet. You're not human. So I'm just gonna keep you for a while."

I glare. "No, you're not. That's illegal."

"You're not human."

He comes back over, carrying a large metal ring. "The laws don't apply to aliens."

"You don't have proof!"

He pulls up his phone, showing me a picture of blood. Two hearts are barely visible in the mess. "I took lots of pictures. I have plenty of proof. Besides, I have S.H.I.E.L.D on my side. You're out of luck, ET."

I glare. "ET?"

"It's an Earth movie. About an alien."

I roll my eyes. "I KNOW what it is!"

He nods. "Whatever." He comes closer and clamps the metal ring around my neck. I try to wrench away from him, gasping as the cold metal kisses my skin.

"What is that?"

"Shock collar."

"What?"

"Just in case you want to try and escape. Don't worry. You don't act out, I won't use it." He yanks the IV drip out of my arm, and I know the painkiller will wear off soon.

I glare at him. "You're treating me like an animal."

"Well you're certainly not human."

I frown. "I'm not an animal!"

"You sure look like one." He starts to unstrap me, and I kick at him. A shock zaps through my neck, and I gasp. He nods. "I told you. You try anything, and I zap you. So be a good girl and hold still."

I sigh and stop trying to attack him, waiting for him to finish unstrapping me. He finishes and holds out his hand. "Help you up."

I take it and he pulls me to a sitting position. I get up off the table, unbalanced after having been out for so long. He presses a hand on my shoulder. It's probably going to leave a bruise, but I don't feel it. I'm still pumped full of painkillers. "Let's go, freak."

I wince at the name, but follow the pressure on my shoulder. He leads me out of the lab and to an elevator, shoving me inside and pressing a button that says B1. "Where are we going?"

He smirks. "The holding tank."

I raise my brow. "The what?"

He rolls his eyes. "Boy, you're dense. Just wait and see."

The elevator stops and he shoves me out of the doors. We're in a dim hallway, with lots of heavy metal doors on either side of the hall. Cells. Crud. He's locking me up. I hope he doesn't chain me up too...

He pushes me all the way down to the end of the hall, opening a heavy door. He roughly shoves me inside. "Night, freak."

I glare at him. "I can't believe everyone thinks you're so great."

He just smirks. "I'm great to other people. Animals aren't big on my list of niceness though."

"I'm not an animal!"

He laughs. "Good night." He slams the door shut and leaves. I'm furious. I throw myself at the door, trying to break it open. Stark's voice comes through the door. "Careful, freak. You'll break open those stitches."

I slam against the door again, and then slump against it, exhausted. I collapse, running a hand through my hair, trying to decide what to do. I can't think. The painkillers are finally wearing off and I can feel a dull throb in my chest. I know it'll be piercing later. What do I do? I'm locked in this cell with no way to escape, a shock collar around my neck and an idiot who wants to keep me like an animal. I start to cry. This isn't how it was supposed to work. It was supposed to be me and him falling in love.

I slam my head into the wall hard, trying to rid myself of the thought. I'm being stupid. No one could ever fall in love with an alien like me. I cringe as the word Stark used passes through my mind. I'm a freak. There aren't even any other timelords left. I'm the ultimate freak, the ultimate collector's item. The last of her kind, cursed and abandoned. I deserve to be here, in this cell. I curl into a ball and slowly fall asleep.


End file.
